1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink replenishing device for replenishing ink to a sub ink tank of a recording head device and an ink jet recording apparatus having the ink replenishing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink droplet is ejected on the basis of image information from a recording head to a recording medium such as paper to record an image, there is a configuration in which the sub ink tank corresponding to each recording head is mounted on a carriage scanning the recording head, various proposals regarding replenishing of ink to the sub-ink tank have been performed.
For example, as shown in FIG. 21, an ink replenishing tank 540, having a tank holder 541 which rotates and descends as a stepper motor is rotated, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 10-202897. In this structure, a valve 546 having a hole for replenishing the ink, which is held operatively upward and downward by the tank holder 541 and is pressed always downward by a spring 543-2, contacts an ink replenishing opening 547 of an ink tank 516 mounted on a carriage 518. When the tank holder 541 further descends, the valve 546 moves upward in an O-ring 550 press-fitted in a supply opening 549 of an ink bag 548, a plug member 553 held oscillatably by the supply opening 549 of the ink bag 548 is pushed up by the valve 546 in the O-ring 550 portion. This allows the ink in the ink bag 548 to be replenished by a water head pressure depending on a water level of the ink into the ink tank 516 through the valve 546.
However, in the configuration described above, the ink sometimes leaks from vicinities of the ink replenishing opening 547 and the plug member 553 by contacting and separating actions to the ink replenishing opening 547 of the valve 546, movement of the plug member 553, or the like. Particularly, when the plenty of ink replenishment is carried out, the leaked ink is accumulated to become a large quantity, which sometimes caused other portions of the ink jet recording apparatus or paper to be dirty.